Install the App
Instructions
- Download the application from the app store and install it on your mobile device (Smartphone).
- Point your smartpone at the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock (Digital) as a sculpture in a public space (at the German Clock Museum in Furtwangen) or as an edition availabe from the artist and hung on your own wall.
- Open the app, point the camera at the clock face with the QR code, read the time and wait until the cuckoo comes or tap the minute hand with your fingertip and keep turning to lure out the cuckoo at the desired time.
Description
Historically, the Black Forest region is closely linked to the clock industry and is famous worldwide for its handcrafted cuckoo clocks. This iconic symbol of the Black Forest has become a global phenomenon since the 18th century. Cuckoo clocks have been exported all over the world and are familiar to almost all Black Forest tourists. In recent decades, technological developments have transferred clocks into the digital sphere and thereby laid the foundation for this project.
Discover an exciting mix of tradition and innovation in the work World's Largest Cuckoo Clock (Digital) by artist Olsen: the sculpture in front of the German Clock Museum, which is over seven metres high, embraces the clockmaking history of the Black Forest and takes up one of its icons: the cuckoo clock. The clock is depicted as a pixelated abstraction with an empty clock face and can only be fully experienced through an augmented reality app.
The time and cuckoo can be seen on the half and full hour as usual. However, in this case the digital ‘cuckoo’ consists of hundreds of video recordings of cuckoo clocks made by people from over 30 countries around the world. As such, the sculpture opens a digital door to the global phenomenon of the cuckoo clock by bringing together worldwide versions of the Black Forest export product in one place. The work is also a reference to the parasitic habits of the natural cuckoo, which lays its eggs in the nests of other birds - here, however, the eggs of others are laid in a digital nest.
The world's largest digital cuckoo clock can be accessed via the Augmented Reality app. To use this app, you will need its physical counterpart (on site or as a purchased edition copy). As soon as the app is started, you can automatically read the current time on the cuckoo clock by holding the camera of your device in the direction of the clock face. The cuckoo will then also appear at every half and full hour, but as described above in the form of video recordings of cuckoo clocks, at the corresponding time of day. If you like turning the minute hand to lure out the cuckoo, you will also get your money's worth here, just give it a try.
During the festive season, the cuckoo clock is transformed into an Advent calendar, during which Christmas content can be discovered on the clock every day.
Thanks
Many thanks to Alexander Hinzsch, Daniel 'Dan' Leguy-Madžar, Diedrich Frickel, Frank 'Fna' Müller-Pierstorff, Hansjörg Wintermantel, Hendrik 'Richi' Hähner, Irene Pérez Hernández, Pascal 'Kalle' Dinser, Peter Huber, Ron 'Royal' Widmer, Stephan Rößler, Tilman Obergfell, Nicole Deisenberger.
The project was first realised as part of the exhibition "Digital is Better" at the Municipal Gallery Villingen-Schwenningen.
With the support of:
